Name
0
Section 1
Date
Conquering King and Giver ofJustice
“The great gods have called me, and lam indeed the good shepherd who brings
peace.
I have carried in my bosom the people of Sumer and Akkad. Thanks to
my good fortune they have prospered. I have not ceased to administer them in
peace. By my wisdom I have harbored them.”—Hammurabi’s Code
.
.
.
ing Hammurabi of Babylon stands alone
among rulers of his day as both a dispenser of
justice and a conqueror..He united much of
Mesopotamia under the rule of Babylon and also
created a famous code of laws.
Hammurabi became king in 1792 B.C. At the
time Babylon controlled only a small area—lands
within about 50 miles of the city. Babylon was just
one among many city-states. Hammurabi was deter
mined to expand his power and build an empire in
Mesopotamia. Most of his rnffitaiy efforts aimed at
winning control of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers,
which brought water to his people’s crops.
The king began by forming an alliance with the
king of Larsa, to the south. Together they defeated
a group called the Elamites. After conquering two
cities to the south, Hammurabi moved north and
east. Two decades later, he turned on his former
ally and conquered Larsa. This brought the cities of
ancient Sumer into his rule. Then he turned north
again and defeated Marsi arid Assyria.
The empire did not last long after his death in
1750 B.C., but his work had a major impact on the
region. Before Hammurabi, the center of
Mesopotamian culture had been Sumer. After his
nile, Babylon became the core of that culture.
Hammurabi’s other great achievement was his
code of laws, which was discovered in the early
1900s by a team of archaeologists at work on the
ancient site of Susa, in modern Iran. They uncovered
an eight-foot-high pillar of stone, or stele. The black
stone was polished bright and engraved with ancient
cuneifoftn writing. The stele included an image as
well—a portrait of King Hammurabi receiving the
code from Marduk, a principal god of Babylon.
The writing on the stele is divided into three
parts. The first part describes Hammurabi’s con
quests. The last offers the king’s thoughts on justice.
Most of the writing, though, is Hammurabi’s Code.
It is divided into 282 articles, each of which
addresses a particular action. Each article states a
particular event first, then gives a legal judgment to
K
36
I
HISTORYMAKERS
UNIT 1, CHAPTER 2
fit the event. The first article shows the pattern: “If
a man has brought an accusation Of murder against
another man, without providing proof: the accuser
shall be put to death.”
Jean Bottéro, who studies ancient Babylon,
believes that the code is a record of Hammurabi’s
actions as a judge. Its purpose, he says, is to guide
future kings in their own decisions. In the last part of
the code, Hammurabi talks to those kings who will
follow him. He tells them to “heed the words that I
have written on this stele: that the monument may
explain to [you] the way and the behavior to follow.”
The code reveals much about the people of
ancient Babylon. The articles are grouped into sev
eral sections, each of which deals with a common
concern. The first five all have to do with lying and
the next 20 with theft. Remaining topics include
farm labor (25 articles), trade (24), and money and
debts (15). The two largest sections cover wives
and family (67) and the work of various professions
(61). Hammurabi’s Code does call for some harsh
penalties—including the famous “eye for an eye.”
However, that penalty only applied when a person
destroyed the eye of an aristocrat. If the victim was
a common person or a slave, the penalty was only a
fine. The code also reflects the fact that the society
was led by men. Fathers dominated families and
had complete control over their children until the
children married. Much of the code, though, was
less harsh than earlier laws. At the end of the text,
the king declared his desire to “prevent the power
ful from oppressing the weak [and]
give my
land fair decisions.”
0
Questions
0
.
.
0
0
0
0
0
.
1.. Determining Main Ideas What were
Hammurabi’s two achievements?
2. Making Inferences Was Hammurabi concerned
about public opinion? Explain your answer.
3. Forming and Supporting Opinion8 Would
you say that Hammurabi was a just king? Why or
why not?
0
0
0